Batman Shrugged
by Sam Zaninovich
Summary: A farewell to the great DC characters of old told in three chapters posted every month, starting new years


BATMAN SHRUGGED or "Elegy for the Super-heroes" by Sam Zaninovich

CAST:

AGD: Attorney General Harvey Dent

BM: Batman (To Kill a Legend Bruce Wayne)

CS: Cliff Steele

CK: Clark Kent

DCW: Drug Czar Jason Woodrue

ELLEN: DeGeneres

GUY: Guy Gardner

JD: Julian Day (Calendar Man)

JO: Jimmy Olsen

KC: King Arthur Curry

LL: Lex Luthor

LOL: Lois Lane

MK: Mr. Keeper

MS: Morris Studebaker

NARR: Kain

NN: Nancy Narr

OL: Ollie Queen

PW: Perry White

REP: Reporter

SDH: Secretary of Defense Shayera Hol

SN: Senator

SA: Senator's aide

SW: Senator's wife

SSP: Secretary of State Diana Prince

STP: Secretary of Transportation Polaris (Neil Emerson)

TVA: TV announcer

TW: Talia Wayne

VS: Vic Sage

WA: Waiter

PART ONE:

1) A year from now. Morris Studebaker in tidy office. CPA license, diploma on wall. Done for the day, he unplugs laptop, puts it in briefcase. Last two pns. the same closing shot of his office, turning off light and closing door. Last pn. almost totally black.

1. NARR: Meet Morris Studebaker.

2. NARR: You'll never find a more meticulous man in your life.

3. NARR: 34. Single. No kids.

4. NARR: Probably the most interesting thing about him is that he collects 45s.

5. NARR: The gem of his collection is a red-vinyl Ricky Nelson from the 60s worth $ 400!

6. NARR: He is no less diligent at his job.

7. NARR: Anal-retentive he may be, but boring…never!

8. NARR: After all, how many guys can say that they killed Clark Kent?

2-3) Gotham City (dbl-pg spread of background, pns w/ interplay between girl and dude over top on these two pgs), nice day, people walking and jogging around Robinson Park, cars drive by, buildings in background. Street is visible in most of pg. Blonde girl drops wallet out of ridiculously adorned purse while she holds dog like spoiled rich bitch. Plenty of product placement present, incl Nineveh

1. NARR: Gotham City a year from now. Not quite the festering cesspool it once was, but a megalopolis embracing many diverse cultures; each contributing to the whole.

2. NARR: Employment is up, crime is down. However, the content of your average movie or ipod is derivative to the point of precognition on the part of the user, but no one has a gun to your head, right?

3. NARR: The corporations can only buy each other out and merge so often, leaving Gotham w/ just a few top dogs. As one would expect, WayneTech is the dominating force.

3) Dude walking behind her notices wallet on street, nobody sees it, gets look on his face like "payday." Batmobile (coupe) zooms by until out of frame. Dude feels watched, takes wallet to Blondie, she thanks him.

1. NARR: Of course, there are still undesirable elements present.

2. NARR: But today there are new ways to combat this superstitious, cowardly lot.

3. NARR: You could say there's just more community spirit, these days.

4-5) Dbl-pg spread of banquet table across top, pns across bottom of spread. That night in Washington DC. Fancy ballroom, large re-election dinner for SSP. Big banquet table; SSP's back's to us, we can see L-R (like text will show) BW, TW, AGD (who, by the way, has very few scars on his left profile-his suit is normal, too); he should look like any other burn victim…LL & DCW, then PW, LOL, CK, VS, STP, SDH on right side of pg…w/ KC at the other head of table, of course. They all have to be at one table, in this order, for space purposes, but we can have other secretaries of various things and non-DC relevant important political people present at background tables. Bottom tier: SSP leading toast, AGD says, "I'll drink to that." Then Senator and wife talking about how good AGD looks. LOL whispers something about super-hearing to CK, who smiles

1. NARR: Night in a fancy Washington DC ballroom: People have travelled from all over the globe to attend Secretary of State Diana Prince's re-election dinner tonight. At $ 6000 a plate from left to right at the main table: Secretary of State Prince herself (seated), Gotham socialite Bruce Wayne and his wife, Talia, Attorney General Dent, Lex Luthor, Drug Czar Jason Woodrue, King Arthur Curry of Atlantis, Daily Planet Editor-in-chief Perry White, Planet reporters Lois Lane & Clark Kent; the infamous Vic Sage, Secretary of Transportation Polaris and last but not least-Secretary of Defense Shayera Hol! Whew!

2. BW: What, just a small get-together, Diana?

3. STP: A typical frivolous victory celebration while the battle still rages…

4. BW: Says who? She won by a landslide!

5. AGD: Who else feels like numbers are up enough for it to be time to celebrate?

6. FROM AROUND TABLE: Hear hear!

ACROSS BOTTOM TIER:

7: SSP: Indeed. Why not be of good cheer? We are all captains of our respective industries, we're all doing well and our constituents are flourishing!

8: AGD: I'll drink to that.

9. SN: Can you believe how much better Dent looks?

10. SW: I heard he was going to be on Dancing with the Stars.

11. LOL (to CK): I wish you were the only one here with super-hearing.

6) BW raises a toast to SSP's new term, everyone drinks but VS. LL chides him, tells him to loosen up. LOL lightens tension by comparing VS's uptightness to CK's. SSP, SDH & KC talk about US/Atlantean relations. STP talks about maglevs a little

1. BW: Well, here's to a wonderful second term!

2. LL: Let's save some for the fish, eh, Sage?

3. VS: Getting people to ingest poison is your job, Luthor.

4. LOL: Jeez, Vic, even Clark's not that uptight!

5. KC: Well, one positive thing I can say is that pollution levels are down due to American transportation reforms.

6. STP: It's been a crazy quarter. Trade-in negotiating was murder, but magnetic levitation has replaced 70% of old cars.

7) STP pontificating smugly, LL making a good point, DCW w/ a zinger, LL's phone rings loudly, and he answers it at the table. CK remarks what bad manners that is. LL replies if CK were getting a message of such import, he'd ck it too! People start talking amongst themselves; ATD tells how easy it is to manage the jails (especially in Gotham) now. Sage asks BW about Nineveh. BW is amused; VS has asked him this a million times

1. STP: After all that time cock-blocking Maglevs, everyone's in a big hurry to jump on the bandwagon. Now that we have them, cars seem like horses!

2. LL: God, the very idea. Why aren't you giving the press a hard time, Polaris? That's their limo waiting downstairs.

3. VS: And what about computer usage in your trams? You know the field generated by your maglevs disrupts hand-held devices. Whatever are people to read and listen to as they travel?

LL'S PHONE BEEPS, HE ANSWERS

4. CK: Do you have any idea how rude you're being?

5. LL: If you ever had a call this important in your life, you'd take it, too!

6. AGD: Well, they changed my life…and Gotham's. No more car thefts, carjackings…car anything. We can even stop individual Maglevs from the station.

7. VS: So, Bruce, I have to ask: What's the secret ingredient?

8. BW: In Nineveh?

8) BW describes Nineveh, VS & CK interact. VS says it's outselling Coke! CK says something from across table; it's really a convo between VS & BW. Eyes once again turn to LL. He "harrumphs!" and turns to DCW, who speaks of Lexcorp's studies into the healing benefits of ionized radiation. DCW cites recent studies that've shown slightly higher intelligence and endurance via faster synaptic response in test exposure cases. DCW is about to say that they're "supermen," but LL stops him.

1. TW: It's just an energy drink, really. Why don't you bother Colonel Sanders or Muhtar Kent?

2. BW: Not you, Clark…

3. VS: They really should worry, Bruce. You're outselling Coke…there's even been talk of a merger with PepsiCo…

4. CK: Very funny. Like I don't know who that is…

5. VS: TW: Perhaps their product could actually be beneficial to man, like Nineveh Is.

6. BW: All this and caffeine-free, too.

7: DCW: We've also yielded positive results with our controlled exposure studies into ionizing radiation. Not only have broad strides been made in weather manipulation, but overall physical strength and endurance via faster synaptic response are quite common in test subjects.

8: DCW: By affecting the atmosphere people live in, we don't have to give them as many invasive drugs…prescription or otherwise! The results may very well be a su…

9: LL: Don't say it!

9) VS laughs. LL scoffs at such a moot point. Everyone has at least a smirk except VS & CK. Everyone's ready to go but LL orders dessert. Now everyone's pissed. At other end of table, normal politicians comment to each other about the super people's cloying social cliques. Then they kinda look at each other like, well, we're all sitting together…you can make it politicians you don't like or funny ones or whatever. As long as their presence at the Secretary of State's re-election dinner would be appropriate in real life (a year from now). CK in background, overhears them and chuckles.

1. VS: So if your average citizen gets stronger and smarter, wouldn't it follow that the criminals would to?

2. LL: Please. The average citizen would be starting from too low an intelligence base to…

3. WA: Would anyone like to see a desert menu?

4. SSP: No, I think we're…

5. LL: How's your Key Lime Pie?

6. LOL: Oh, my god…

7. SN: Boy, these super people sure do stick together.

8. SA: Even the one that hates them is obnoxious.

9. SW: Well, we're all sitting together…

10) Dessert is served; VS wonders where OL could be. BW and TW glance sidelong at each other, start awkwardly covering, yet it's SSP who recovers quickest and says OL had some work done and didn't feel up to travelling. LL & CK start bickering, LOL kicks CK under table, but he doesn't feel it. Waiter glides by w/ the bill, hands it to BW rather than leaving it on table. Others make grabs for it, but BW keeps it away, laughing. He takes a drink and opens the bill, does a spit-take. It says "elevator-bring baldy"

1. VS: Say, I wonder where Ollie Queen could be? It's not like him to miss something like this.

2. SSP: Oh, Ollie passes along his regrets…he's actually getting some work done in Mexico, wink wink.

3. SSP: But I'm sure he is, as I am, very grateful to everyone for showing up for this.

4. CK: Doesn't sound very legal, Lex.

5. LL: What?

6: CK: Bombarding the world w/ radiation.

7: LL: Don't worry farm-boy. It's all within acceptable tolerance limits voted on and passed by your beloved legal system.

8: CK: Were you kicking me under the table, Lois?

8. BW (to waiter): Thank you.

9. BW: What the…!

11) BW closes it quickly. He slides in his credit card…the same sleight of hand move slips just the note out of the bill-holder into his pocket. BW is outwardly normal. Everyone attributes his "outburst" jokingly as merely reaction to the bill and thank BW. People start to mill about; LL makes b-line for elevator. BW politely exits party as well. LL seems mildly irritated as BW joins him inside.

1. SSP: Oh, Bruce, you should let me…

2. TW: Are you alright, beloved?

3. AGD: Boy, you're white as a sheet! How bad is it?

4. SDH: We could split it at least.

5. CK: Thanks Bruce.

6. LOL: Yeah, thanks Bruce!

7. LL: Well, a whole evening down the drain…

8. BW (to Waiter): Thank you.

9. LL: …decent Key Lime Pie, though.

10. BW (to Talia): Make my goodbyes.

11. BW: Do I have to get Polaris to hold this car?

12) As door closes, they face us. Then closer shot of LL & BW startled to see a message in big, bold letters on inside of doors: "Wayne Tech & Lexcorp: Your pharmaceutical solutions are KILLING us! There will be reprisals" BW & LL stare incredulously at the message, then askance at each other.

1. LL: Why do you people always have to try to be funny?

2. BW: I'm the wrong…one…

3. BW: …to…ask…

4. LL: What the hell is this?

5. BW: …!

13) LL is pissed, but BW plays it as straight as he did at the table w/ the bill. They're both immediately defensive. BW bugs LL about radiation dangers to the environment. Cancer and Aids vaccines are available only to those on LexCare. LL says BW should talk, w/ Nineveh facilitating a nation of speed freaks. LL's limo pulls up, LL gets in, limo departs. BW looks up; sees SSP's private jet (not sure if she should use Air Force One…whatever would be germane to her rank) streak off. And no, it's not invisible.

1. LL: Which of your goddamn friends did this? What does it mean?

2. BW: I'm right here…and I can't imagine!

3. BW: Obviously, someone doesn't think your rad experiments are as safe as you claim.

4. LL: What would I have to gain by murdering all of humanity, which includes me?

5. LL: And what of the healthful results of my experiments? My cancer and AIDS cures?

6. BW: Available only to those on LexCare.

7. LL: What can I say? Membership has its privileges. Besides, you should talk, with your damn "energy drink" fad facilitating a nation of drive-through zombies!

8. LL (sarcastically): Enjoy your night.

14) In that selfsame jet sit SDH and DCW. They at first are pleasant to each other, then get increasingly hostile. SDH says she's just kidding. DCW gets all uppity, SDH just laughs, gets ph call. DCW goes "hmmph!" SDH is stoked, her husband just found hard evidence of a "missing link" on Thanagar. DCW slyly calls her loyalties into question while asking if this discovery proves or disproves evolutionism on Thanagar. She replies, "we don't have a word for 'opposite of evolution.'

1. SDH: Well, that was pretty fun. Except for your boss ordering dessert, Woodrue.

2. DCW: Are you going to start in already?

3. SDH: Oh, c'mon, I'm just kidding. I know your pledge drives are funneled to LexCorp, but something must get to the causes they're for.

4. SDH: And forever your flock will sing the praises of the wonders ionic radiation treatments have done for them beyond the ten year promise the LexCorp scientists have assured them their two-year investment in study will yield.

5. DCW: Dear, whatever do you take to be so frisky all the time?

SDH'S PHONE BEEPS

6. SDH: Oh, Take a pill, Woodrue.

7. SDH: Great Stars! My husband has just found hard evidence of a missing link back home!

8. DCW: Ah. So does this prove or disprove evolutionism on Thanagar?

9. SDH: We have no word to describe the opposite of evolution, Woodrue.

10. SDH: We'd call that "death."

16) VS and the Daily Planet gang in limo en route to hotel. As a top reporter, VS and they can shoot the shit as peers. The limo cruises past a Martian Trailer Camp (it should look like a bum tent-city), a large trailer park/tent town reservation occupied by Martian half-breeds.

1. PW: There's something up with that Wayne, lately. Did you see his face when he got that bill?

2. LOL: Could Polaris have been more argumentative? What a…

3. CK: Now, Lois, be nice. Both he and Woodrue have paid their debt to society and are reciprocating with their current activities.

4. PW: To say nothing of Dent…

5. LOL: Still annoying. Oh, god… another one of those Martian Trailer Park Camps!

6. PW: We just did an editorial on these. Ever since Martian Manhunter replicated with himself, it's added a whole new dynamic to our society! They've just taken the place homeless humans used to have, now that our economy is booming.

7. CK: Diana and I were talking about that earlier…what to do when one plight supplants another?

8. LOL: Thank goodness they don't seem to have any of his powers.

17) Everyone in limo expresses uniform concern about the plight of the Martians. VS calls them out on clichéd and elitist views about the camps. The limo halts. VS opens door without goodbyes, leaves, closes door. Seconds later, limo driver comes around, opens door for everybody else. They get out in silence.

1. CK: They're multiplying at an alarming rate, though. They just move from city to city.

2. LOL: It's such a shame, really…

3. VS: Oh, stop! Do you people hear yourselves? Talking about "plight" and what a "shame" it is! And you're journalists? You sound like USA Today!

4. VS: This situation exists because one stupid super-hero couldn't keep it in his pants; as it were. By self-replicating like a simple cell, J'onn J'onzz has merely put a new face on a very old problem.

5. VS: You all are so busy being "forward-thinking" and "ahead of the curve," but journalism doesn't move forward.

6. VS: You've forgotten the "investigative" part of journalism! You're just a roving pack of jackals; exploiters exploiting bigger exploiters and pointing out their exploitations!

7. VS: And indeed, I am one of you. Luckily, my methods differ. But you'd all be better off checking out the origins of a situation like this before letting the hounds loose.

8. VS: It's how you get to what we call a "story."

18) TV announcer overdub over images of crazy-looking extravagant green mansion. Use them architectural skills. Welcome to Great Guardians! A reality show where the winner gets to be GL. During the announcer's spiel, you could show scenes of the cast hangin' in the green mansion and facing each other in GL-themed elimination challenges, incl. maybe facing Sinestro?

1. TVA: Are you ready?

2. TVA: It's the most extreme, intense, out of control reality show ever! Literally!

3. TVA: Welcome to Great Guardians where we join our hand-selected group of nobodies in the ultimate game of power, manipulation, bad guys and betrayal!

4. TVA: In this awesome house, 12 random people must prove their fearlessness while voting to eliminate one housemate per episode! A series of elimination challenges exiles one housemate per episode to Qward! The winner at the end of the season receives an actual Green Lantern ring and becomes the official GL for this space sector! Wow!

5. OL: Oh, god.

19) Meet Branden, Braiden, Cheri, Escalade, Tobee and Damian. Host breaks for the following: The first commercial is about not using steroids; the second commercial is Guy Gardener eating ShakedBar, a melty protein shake w/ chunks of granola in it. He says: "Y'know, when I need to feel my most fearless…" We pan to OL in monastery. He yawns and flips the channel.

1. TVA: Only Branden, Braiden, Cheri, Escalade, Tobee and Damian are left to compete for an honest-to-Ganthet power ring! Great Guardians! Coming soon on Fox!

2. OL: Can we let the dead die, please?

3. TVA: Sick of people pushing you around? Tired of being an also ran? Try steroids!

4. OL: WHAT! Jeez, even the commercials pushing self-help are detrimental. No wonder people are so indecisive and self-conscious!

5. OL: All they ever get are backhanded complements and flat-out insults!

6. GUY: Hi! This is Guy Gardner for ShakedBar!

7: GUY: Y'know, when I need to feel my most fearless…

8: OL: Yaaaaawwwn

20) He's in a monastery in Bludhaven (w/ bell on top, from Police # 1, est shot), MK tends to him. MK asks what the last thing Ollie remembers is. Ollie reveals that he was trippin' on some real bad mushrooms and thought he had to fight central park or something. OL asks where Bruce is.

1. OL: Now I know why Elvis used to shoot his TVs.

2. MK: Good morning, Mr. Queen. How are we today?

3. OL: Very disappointed in program directors.

4. MK: Do you know where you are?

5. OL: Sure. That rehab in Bludhaven.

6. MK: It's a monetary, actually, Mr. Queen. What's the last thing you remember?

7. OL: Oohhhh, lessee…trippin' on some real bad shrooms…thought I had to actually fight central park, man!

8. OL: Sooooo…where's Bruce?

21) Batmobile zooms down street. SM flies overhead, slows up above; batmobile cockpit hatch opens. SM drops in. Hatch closes. SM begins to talk about LL, BM brings up that he left a message in the elevator. SM questions the wisdom of baiting LL, but otherwise loves the way BW's been seen more of than BM lately. They go back and forth

1. SM: So, what do you think of Luthor's rad experiments?

2. BM: I don't think he'll change anything he's doing, but I left a message he was sure to notice in the elevator.

3. SM: Well, I question the wisdom of baiting him, but otherwise, I'm loving the way you've been handling your role as Bruce Wayne over the last year or so.

4. SM: You might've been Wayne more lately than Batman. Indeed, I wish I could do as much with Clark. He's good for appearances, though…and Lois.

5. BM: I'm glad you're happy. It means less Super-meddling in human affairs.

22) SM continues that he's primarily been busy foiling natural disasters and the like, w/ plenty of time for LOL. BM likes that SM feels less need to interfere in the ways of mortal men. SM says he should talk, w/ all his government manipulations. BM opens cockpit of batmobile, SM zips out, it closes back, SM flies back to hotel. We stay on deserted street scene after they're gone. We see eerie smoke emanating from alleyway. The Question sees all.

1. SM: I'll take that as a well-wishing statement.

2. SM: Yet the world seems to be in a lot better shape due to the focusing of your controlling nature into government…to say nothing of Diana's efforts. All despite less frequent appearances by yours truly.

3. SM: Outside the Planet, I've mainly been busy averting natural disasters and such. Anyway, you should talk about interference in the lives of men.

4. BM: Nineveh will be settled, one way or the other, tomorrow morning. You can bet your boots on that.

5. SM: This energy drink thing better end up more benign than Luthor's experiments, that's all.

23) In Washington DC, VS & SSP at brunch. Platonic! SSP is happily married to Steve Trevor, as everybody knows! VS wonders if SSP misses the headlines the superheroes gave up when crime went down, and that he's felt way more of SSP's presence lately than Wonder Woman's. VS, in a roundabout way, comments that the world seems to be better off without their respective alter-egos. They laugh. SSP vaguely regrets her retirement into politics, but she feels she's made more of a difference in the last four years than she ever did in leotards. VS opines that that's debatable…

1. NARR: Next day…

2. SSP: When was the last time you had brunch with somebody?

3. VS: Haha…no one's asked in a while. And a future presidential candidate is not merely "somebody."

4. SSP: Well, we're not as flashy-famous as we used to be.

5. VS: You ever miss it?

6. SSP: The fights, sometimes.

7. VS: Maybe the world's better off without us.

8. SSP: In a less heavy-handed capacity, anyway. I've made more of a difference in the last four years than I ever did in leotards.

9. VS: That's debatable. The merchandise just always sold better than your character.

10. SSP: Well, now it's harder for them to get my ass on a lunch box!

24-25) Double pg spread of how maglev stations would look. Row of pns across bottom of pgs should be int of STP's office, scale models of both proposed & existing maglev stations and conveyances (STP doesn't like to call 'em cars). He's already on two phone lines and typing on the computer, but gets a call from a special cellphone and hangs up w/ the others as he hurries out of office.

1. NARR: "Imagine! An America without the choking excess imposed upon it by the automobile industry!

2. NARR: "With Polaris Maglev Systems, you and your family can enjoy a tranquil experience on your daily travels! Enjoy a 2 or 4 person car as you concentrate on business…or pleasure!

3. NARR: "Despite pressure from the oil and auto industries, there is a Maglev station near you!"

4. NARR: From An Introduction to Maglevs text by Dr. Neil Emerson, Jan 20th 2012

BOTTOM TIER:

5. STP: Then you need to circulate a petition in your neighborhood to get a station closer to you.

6. STP: No, but it's a start.

7. STP: There's a blank form on our website. Yeah. OK, 'bye.

8. STP: Larry, tell him the signs clearly say "turn all computers off!" Hang on…

9: STP: Secretary of Defense Polaris here…

10: STP: …WHAT?

11: STP: Call ya back, Lar!

26) STP shows up in a normal ambulance at the site of a horrible automobile wreck. STP takes advantage of press presence (Incl. VS) to talk up the pointlessness of this dui and how use of a maglev would have averted this tragedy. VS comments on zoning limitations and notes that even STP arrived in a normal car. STP gets back in ambulance pissed, remarks that it's not his fault that people vote against progress!

1. NARR: Minutes later…

2. STP: Good lord.

3. STP: Another pointless DUI death! When will people have enough death and destruction to support the vanity and expense of an auto? When will they say, "Please, take the burden of tons of mechanical potential death off my hands?"

4. VS: Isn't this a little ghoulish of a photo op?

5. STP: I don't care what you adherents to a dying medium have to say!

6. REP: What about the tracks? Only the places with access to tracks really benefit from Maglevs due to zoning restrictions. Isn't it coercion to force people to use…?

7. STP: Nobody's forced to do anything! This constant resistance from you people proves that!

8. VS: Why did you arrive in a conventional ambulance instead of a Maglev, Polaris?

9. STP: Bah! It's not my fault people vote against progress!

27) Thanagar. Vast desert, speck in background. Speck becomes Hawkman, flying directly into reader's face; but fast! He alights upon a fearsome crag and strikes it w/ his mighty mace. Think epic 3-D IMAX shit. This should be Hawkman at the theater, kinda scaring the shit out of everyone.

1. NARR: Thanagar.

28) His strike hits a fracture which sends a 500 ft chunk of mountain crumbling to the ground as he flies away, out of the dust cloud. He then swoops into one particular crevasse and boldly reaches for an item in his belt. It is a little dust instrument archaeologists use delicately. He uses it for a minute, puts it away and grabs an electronic notepad. He writes some notes, then scrapes the dirt w/ his fingernail until he finds half a jawbone of some prehistoric Thanagarian bird. As dirt clods fall off, he smiles.

1. NARR: His strike hits a fracture which sends a 500 ft. chunk of mountain crumbling to the ground as he flies away, out of the dust cloud.

2. NARR: He then swoops into one particular crevasse and boldly reaches for an item in his belt. He grabs an electronic notepad and jots down some observations.

3. NARR: Hawkman smiles.

29) Int. panoramic shot of Ray Palmer's dusty lab. Close in on microscope. Where slide goes, there's a note that says "Gone Shrinkin'!"

1. NARR: "Of course, there was the small matter of Palmer's alter-ego, the Atom.

2. NARR: "While most in the scientific community derided Palmer once his 'secret identity' became clear, his work in the 60s remains revolutionary in the field.

3. NARR: "Interest faded in his field of study as his personal life spiraled into disaster (well documented elsewhere; most notably 'the Atom's Farewell' by Palmer, Jean Loring & Norman Brawler), which led Palmer both to less research and fewer excursions as the Atom.

4. NARR: "Still, fringe groups…mostly students…maintained that Palmer's material was as good as ever, if not the best of his career.

5. NARR: "As if to prove it, recently Palmer threw himself into his work one last time and yielded fascinating results! This, precipitating a final plunge into some nameless microscopic landscape as the Atom.

6. NARR: "No one's heard from him since."

7. NARR: Excerpt from article in Omni Jul 17th 1986

30) Morning at the Planet. In hallway CK and LOL talk about Supes flying past restaurant after meeting w/ BM and SM zapping it w/ X-ray vision. He says BM's message was less than subtle. LOL reports that it's business as usual on LL's facebook, twitter, desaad-view, etc. Like the others, they're starting to think Nineveh and LL's rad experiments need checking out. Suddenly, Jimmy calls out to CK that someone from the IRS was waiting in his office for him. CK and LOL exchange worried looks.

1. NARR: Morning at the Planet.

2. LOL: So you swung back by the restaurant after your little date with Batman?

3. CK: Yeah. Zapped it with the ole X-ray vision…Batman's message was less than subtle. Well, you know…you were working on it all night after we got back to the room!

4. LOL: What can I say? The waiter remembered me and spared no details.

5. CK: Who wouldn't? So which do you think warrants more investigation…Luthor's thing or Nineveh?

6. LOL: Hard to say…oh my god! Clark! I left my curling iron on!

7. CK: Don't worry. I zipped back to the room on my break.

8. LOL: Oh, Clark! What would I do without you?

9. JO: Oh, hey guys. Say, Clark, there's some guy from the IRS in your office. Maybe it's time for an early lunch, huh?

31) Ellen DeGeneres interviewing DCW. They talk about the previous night's party. Ellen brings up LA Croix and his colorful past. DCW has sorrowful regret for those he harmed, but draws a chuckle as he says everyone deserves the chance to turn over a new leaf. DCW is, of course, born again and is reverend of his own congregation of "back to nature" followers.

1. ELLEN: We are back with Dr. Jason Woodrue, the official Drug Czar of the White House.

2. DCW: Hello.

3. ELLEN: Wow. Great. Now, might as well get it out of the way, you used to be a super-villain.

4. DCW: Here we go…

5. ELLEN: No, no…we should at least mention that you fulfilled your sentence almost 20 years ago! Wow!

AUDIENCE APPLAUDS

6. DCW: You're talking about my colorful past fighting various members of the Justice League and the unfortunate incident in La Croix.

7. DCW: Well, that was a whole different person!

8. DCW: And I of all people am appreciative of the opportunity to turn over a new leaf!

AUDIENCE LAUGHS, APPLAUDS

9. DCW: I became, of course, born again and we make the rest…history…weekly in our congregation!

10: ELLEN: Wow!

32) Still on Ellen, then she switches to DCW at one of his televised sermons. We should let him go on for a minute, Hicks/Kinnison-style.

1. ELLEN: So you're a big god guy.

2. DCW: That's right.

3. ELLEN: Reverend of your own "back to nature" congregation.

4. DCW: Well, we're going on our 19th year running, so we're very proud.

5. DCW: But we're not a bunch of hippies!

AUDIENCE APPLAUDS

6. ELLEN: Well, let's take a look at the Reverend Drug Czar in action! Yay!

AUDIENCE APPLAUDS

7. DCW (on tape): So you say you're down and out…no prospects. Why not abuse drug and drink? Nothing to lose, right? Well, let me tell you about another down and outer. Can't get much further down than a super-villain!

33) Then he should end w/ tearful, heartfelt thankfulness, Fallwell-style. As he speaks, giant gnarled trees sprout from the ground, creating a giant canopy over the congregation on tape.

1. DCW: So this guy was pretty smart…held a doctorate, but made some bad choices…hung out with the wrong crowd…and especially had the wrong enemies!

2. DCW: Now, you see this man before you and say, "Is he redeemed? Can I be redeemed?"

3. DCW: Folks, the whole damn world can be redeemed!

4. DCW: Fortunately, super-villains aren't such a problem these days. A lot of us have reformed…are using our abilities for the greater good of society. So the big problem left for America…after conquering other ills like crime and unemployment…was drugs.

5. DCW: A way of escape for the dregs, and something to do for the rich and bored. You celebrate good times and try to forget after a tough day. It gets you coming and going!

6. DCW: That's why solutions like our dilapidated pharmaceutical industry that can only react to individual problems, fail! People will never opt not to have a good time, not use a crutch...our entire environment must change!

7. DCW: So seek not answers and cures in these fads like Nineveh…a drug is a drug is a drug!

8. DCW: We are stronger! We are smarter! And we still have the power! God bless!

APPLAUSE

34-36) Blackness as we redo Johnny Got His Gun starring Cliff Steele. I mean it. Two pgs of nothing but blackness until we focus on the Chief's old camera torn loose on a pile of rocks at the bottom of pg 35. Now we see from the camera's perspective a pile of once-molten slag w/ one arm, one hand, head and leg protruding, face dripping over; Cliff got melted into this somewhat formless shape on this godforsaken island someplace. There are discarded radioactive rags and a dismantled wheelchair on the beach, but Cliff himself can't see any of this because it's Cliffy got his Gun, right?

1. CS: What a machine. One of those old fashioned cigar-shaped babies with the big wheels. Lean, sleek and fast, fast, fast!

2. CS: Like a lady. Too good. Too fun. And sometimes dangerous!

3. NN: Oh, Cliffy! My husband will be back any time!

4. CS: Don't sweat it, baby! I'm fast except in the one way that counts!

5. NN: Oh god, Cliff.

6. NN: Oh my god, Cliff!

7. CS: Something's wrong. The fun part's over, now it's time for the consequences.

8. CS: Something's really wrong, but I don't feel any pain.

9. CS: Nancy! Nancy! Where are you?

10. CS: And where am I?

1. CS: Not only do I not feel any pain…I don't feel anything!

2. CS: I feel like a phantom limb. Not the man without his limb, but the limb itself. Gone. Floaty. Nauseous without a stomach.

3. CS: There's some…very short guy operating on me…but I can't tell…can't see or hear him 'cause I'm blind and deaf.

4. CS: How can I puke without a stomach?

5. CS: They say dying is peaceful, so I must not be dead. Why won't they let me die?

6. CS: It's that half-pint pokin' and cuttin' on me!

7. CS: It's the wreck! The wreck killed my body! How long can a brain live without a body? Are we doing a service to god, by keeping an abomination like me alive?

8. CS: They shoulda put me in a car.

9. CS: Robotman puts you in the driver's seat!

1. CS: No. There was…more…each thing crazier than the one before!

2. CS: There were others…some large explosions…

3. CS: I'll never know what happened to them. I remember now. I'm Cliff Steele, Robotman. Can't really remember which fight did this, but those characters finally pushed their luck once too often.

4. CS: I am a brain housed within a series of robot bodies. My brain has recycling nourishing fluids so I'll never die.

5. CS: But my body, my melted, useless hulk, will sit throughout eternity. I was half-mad before…this won't help!

6. CS: I will go crazy in silence.

7. CS: Well, thanks, Chief. Thanks so much for doing this to me, you old perv!

8. CS: God, Nancy, I wish you were here.

9. CS: Here to talk me out of going to that race…out of going on all those nutty missions…

10. CS: …out of life…

37) Ext of JD in lab at Lexcorp. He's all excited because he's been up all night finishing a temporal mathematical calculation that will change the world. He runs to go tell LL w/ notes in hand.

1. JD: Oh yeah, baby!

2. JD: That's it! Yes!

3. JD: Lemme just check this against this…holy crap.

4. JD: I did it! This last round of calculations took…mmm…17 hours! Good god!

5. JD: The work of a lifetime. Decades of research and difficult mathematics. Merciless editing.

6. JD: I have truly earned the name of Calendar Man with this one! A feat of temporal spatial-relationship juggling unsurpassed!

7. JD: This is like adding a cart to wheels! I've completely re-invented the calendar. I feel like Copernicus!

7. JD: Wait'll I tell the boss!

38) CK's meeting w/ Morris Studebaker provides predictable results. CK is being audited and that demands an in-depth investigation of CKs past records, which are semi-existent. Studebaker, thinking CK's upset because of the money, politely leaves.

1. MS: Well, it's just that we've found some inconsistencies in some of your older paperwork. Particularly your W-2s. You've been here an awful long time and I just don't see the documentation directly prior to your working here.

2. CK: I was hired on with a handshake and told to go get a story. I didn't even have a driver's license.

3. MS: Exactly. Look, I realize there was a more…laissez-faire attitude toward employment in those days, but I really must see a social security card or something from a hospital…a birth certificate…something to show that you're even a citizen.

4. MS: Your very lack of records makes you look very conspicuous, Mr. Kent. I'm afraid an audit is unavoidable even if you were to produce everything my office requires tomorrow.

5. MS: There's going to be a heckuva lot of back-taxes as well, I'm afraid. I'm really sorry, Mr. Kent.

6. CK: It's…alright, Mr. Studebaker. You're just doing your job.

39) CK sits at his desk, a little dazed. He knows CK's existence is over. He takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes between his thumb and forefinger. He's really wrestling some long-standing personal demons, here

1. NARR: Amazing, the power of money. The scrutiny into long-held secrets.

2. NARR: The reasons for deception are vague in the cold light of day.

3. NARR: Clark Kent knows his existence will soon be over…the honor of a man of steel demands it.

4. NARR: He takes his glasses off…

40) He holds his face in his hands in anguish. The glasses stay on the desk.

WRITE ME: PART TWO AVAILABLE HERE ON FEB 1st! BE HERE! IT'S JUST GETTIN' GOOD!


End file.
